Algebra Examples

$x^{2} y^{2} - 64$

Step 1

Rewrite $x^{2} y^{2}$ as ${(x y)}^{2}$ .

${(x y)}^{2} - 64$

Step 2

Rewrite $64$ as $8^{2}$ .

${(x y)}^{2} - 8^{2}$

Step 3

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = x y$ and $b = 8$ .

$(x y + 8) (x y - 8)$